China Goes Global

The Partial Power

David Shambaugh

Authoritative account of one the most important global developments in recent times--China's ascendance in world politics.

David Shambaugh is an internationally recognized authority and author on China.

As the first book to piece together all of the facets of increasing Chinese global power, it will be necessary reading for anyone interested in the issue.

China Goes Global

The Partial Power

David Shambaugh

Description

Most global citizens are well aware of the explosive growth of the Chinese economy. Indeed, China has famously become the "workshop of the world." Yet, while China watchers have shed much light on the country's internal dynamics--China's politics, its vast social changes, and its economic development--few have focused on how this increasingly powerful nation has become more active and assertive throughout the world.

In China Goes Global, eminent China scholar David Shambaugh delivers the book that many have been waiting for--a sweeping account of China's growing prominence on the international stage. Thirty years ago, China's role in global affairs beyond its immediate East Asian periphery was decidedly minor and it had little geostrategic power. Today however, China's expanding economic power has allowed it to extend its reach virtually everywhere--from mineral mines in Africa, to currency markets in the West, to oilfields in the Middle East, to agribusiness in Latin America, to the factories of East Asia. Shambaugh offers an enlightening look into the manifestations of China's global presence: its extensive commercial footprint, its growing military power, its increasing cultural influence or "soft power," its diplomatic activity, and its new prominence in global governance institutions.

But Shambaugh is no alarmist. In this balanced and well-researched volume, he argues that China's global presence is more broad than deep and that China still lacks the influence befitting a major world power--what he terms a "partial power." He draws on his decades of China-watching and his deep knowledge of the subject, and exploits a wide variety of previously untapped sources, to shed valuable light on China's current and future roles in world affairs.

China Goes Global

The Partial Power

David Shambaugh

Author Information

David Shambaugh is Professor of Political Science and International Affairs and Director of the China Policy Program at George Washington University, as well as a nonresident Senior Fellow in the Foreign Policy Studies Program at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. His most recent books include Tangled Titans: The United States and China; Charting China's Future: Domestic & International Challenges; and China's Communist Party: Atrophy & Adaptation.

China Goes Global

The Partial Power

David Shambaugh

Reviews and Awards

Selected as a Best Book of 2013 by The EconomistSelected as a Best Book of 2013 by Foreign AffairsSelected as a Best Book of 2013 by Bloomberg News

"[A] masterful survey." --Foreign Affairs

"China Goes Global is a fascinating and scholarly challenge to the received wisdom about China's rise, and an important critique of the accepted narrative of Chinese expansionism." --The Economist

"David Shambaugh provides a thoughtful look at the nature and consequences of China's rise in this carefully researched and well-written volume." --Henry A. Kissinger

"The argument of China Goes Global is made forcefully, systematically and with plenty of evidence. It marshals information and research in a way that is valuable -- and often fascinating." --Financial Times

"This is a must read for those interested in China's foreign affairs particularly and international relations generally." --Library Journal

"[A] lucid, highly readable overview of China's government policy-making apparatus, media, military ambitions and capabilities, trade and investment patterns, and strained relations with almost every region of the world . . . Drawing on interviews with Chinese policymakers and his own perceptive observations of their conflicting impulses, Shambaugh pointedly corrects the usual hysterical exaggerations of Chinese power. His is an illuminating profile of a colossus that does not-yet-bestride the world." --Publishers Weekly

"Here's a book that has its title right -- a statement worth making because so many stretch or bend them for marketing purposes. And that's only the beginning of the elegant distillation George Washington University political scientist David Shambaugh provides in this useful volume, which offers a detailed yet concise portrait of a nation widely perceived as on the cusp of what the Chinese government often ascribes to its American rival: hegemony." --History News Network

"[T]imely and highly readable . . . With copious data and not a few anecdotes of his own experience, Shambaugh lays out systematically the case that China's reach, while undeniably global, is almost universally shallow." --Global Policy Journal

"[Shambaugh's] meticulous exploration of the multiple ways in which China does not live up to its current reputation brings a breath of fresh and cooling air to an overheated topic. It's about time." --Christian Science Monitor

"One of the most-prominent sinologists in the United States has written an important book on the global impact of China's rise." -- Andrew Scobell, Political Science Quarterly